er finish it before it gathered any
germs. But it's not pie. Now that I think of it, it was my head where I
was sick. Don't you remember, Lark, I said my head ached?"

"Yes, and her eyes got red and bleary when she was reading. And--and
there was something else, too, Carol, what--"

"Your eyes are bloodshot, Carol. They do look bad." Prudence examined
them closely. "Now, Carol Starr, don't you touch another book or
magazine until after the wedding. If you think I want a bloodshot
bridesmaid, you're mistaken."

They all turned to look across the yard at Connie, just turning in.
Connie always walked, as Carol said, "as if she mostly wasn't there."
But she usually "arrived" by the time she got within speaking distance
of her sister.

"Goodness, Prue, aren't you going to do anything but eat after you move
to Des Moines? Carol and I were counting the napkins last night,--was it
a hundred and seventy-six, Carol, or--some awful number I know. Carol
piled them up in two piles and we kneeled on them to say our prayers,
and--I can't say for sure, but I think Carol pushed me. Anyhow, I lost
my balance, and usually I'm pretty well balanced. I toppled over right
after 'God save,' and Carol screamed 'the napkins'--Prue's wedding
napkins! It was an awful funny effect; I couldn't finish my prayers."

"Carol Starr! Fifteen years old and--"

"That's a very much exaggerated story, Prue. Connie blamed it on me as
usual. She piled them up herself to see if there were two feet of
them,--she put her stockings on the floor first so the dust wouldn't
rub off. It was Lark's turn to sweep and you know how Lark sweeps, and
Connie was very careful, indeed, and--"

"Come on, Fairy, and see the veil!"

"The veil! Did it come?"

With a joyous undignified whoop the parsonage girls scrambled to their
feet and rushed indoors in a fine Kilkenny jumble. Aunt Grace looked
after them, thoughtfully, smiling for a second, and then with a girlish
shrug of her slender shoulders she slipped out and followed them inside.

The last thing that night, before she said her prayers, Prudence carried
a big bottle of witch hazel into the twins' room. Both were sleeping,
but she roused Carol, and Lark turned over to listen.

"You must bathe your eyes with this, Carol. I forgot to tell you. What
would Jerry say if he had a bleary-eyed bridesmaid!"

And although the twins grumbled and mumbled about the idiotic nonsense
of getting-married folks, Carol obediently